While in Anchorage, we booked ourselves a Kenai Fjords cruise on Wednesdays. We took off down the Kenai (Key-nye) Peninsula on Tuesday to give ourselves some time to explore. We started off by taking the branch to Whittier and stopped at Byron Glacier. There we were able to hike up to what used to be the end of the glacier. Since the trail was built it had retreated a significant ways and we had two cross a rock field to get all the way too it.
After our adventure to our first glacier, we continued to Whittier. Whittier lies behind a 2.5 mile, one lane tunnel that is shared by cars and trains. So, after paying a $13 round-trip toll, we had to wait for the next half-hour mark to drive in. Traffic into Whittier is released every half-hour mark, while traffic coming out is release every hour mark, barring any unscheduled trains.
Whittier is a cold-war era military town that is now a fishing town, a port and a tourist destination, mostly for fishing. There are a lot of remnants of its cold war days around. Most notably and old, run down apartment-like building. Most of the 214 residents live in a similar apartment building that was built 1957 and has an underground tunnel to the school so that students can avoid going outside in the winter.
The surrounding area is beautiful and there are quite a few hikes and boat excursions leaving from town.
During our brief visit, we stopped by a local park on a stream where salmon were coming in to spawn. Never have we seen salmon in such numbers, just hanging around, waiting out their final moments. It was pretty clear that a few choice ones were picked over by locals, eagles and we even heard earlier in the day a bear was spotted here.
We left Whittier in the evening with the intent on making it most of the way to Seward. The night came faster than we though and heavy rains made the drive too stressful. We decided to stop at a pullout and start early the next day.
In Seward, we took our fjord tour (see our Kenai Fjords post). After our tour we decided to stay in Seward for the night. Off-season rates for a dry spot were only $10, which was cheaper than heading to the free spot we found online and back. Since we wanted to see the visitor center the next day anyways, it was a good deal.
We hung around Seward for most of the next day, taking it pretty easy. We eventually made our way out and after a short stop by exit glacier, we settled at a campsite just off the road next to a really calm lake.
The next day we decided we’d visit Homer as well. It was a good 2 1/2 hours each way, but we heard it was a nice place to visit. The drive was beautiful, but took us through some very recent forest fires. At some pointes smoke got incredibly thick and charred trees on the roadside showed the devastation that came through. There were many places still visibly smoldering, but nothing was on fire anymore.
Homer itself was a nice small town. Most notable was the spit: a stretch of narrow land that ran out into the sound. We did some wine tasting at Bear Creek Winery because we had a coupon from a coupon book. We met a lady that lived in Homer at the Oregon watch party in Anchorage and she gave us the coupon book as well as some recommendations. Bear Creek makes their wines with a mix of fruits and berries and grapes or straight from the fruits. They buy many of their fruits from locals who either grow or find them. This lead to them having very delicious and sweet wines that would certainly leave you with a headache if you drank too much.
We spent the night about 10 miles back towards Anchorage at Whiskey Gulch beach in Anchor Point. The road down to the beach claimed to only be maintained for 4-wheel drive vehicles. That may be true in wetter months, but we made it down and back up with no issues.
On Saturday, we drove pretty much straight back to Anchorage with a quick stop in Girdwood. We had heard they were having a fungus fair there at the community center. We only stopped for a little bit, but it was great to see a bunch of people excited to share their knowledge of fungi. We had been wanting a good guide to the mushrooms of the area and picked one up there.
We ended up back in Anchorage in time to catch the Duck game against Nevada with the Alumni Association. It was a much needed feel-good win after the previous week’s meltdown.
We’ll be spending the night one more time at Kathleen’s old roommate’s place before we’re off down the Glenn Highway and Wrangell-St. Elias!
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